There is no one way to run a hub meeting. It all depends on the time you have, the needs of the group, and what kind of session it is. The main things are to manage the time well and to keep bringing the conversation back to the main thing – the way that the gospel shapes theology.
You don’t need to have an expert to lead a discussion well. Just make sure you can introduce the issue, and ask good questions steered towards how a gospel-centred faith makes a difference.
Welcome and catching up.
Open with a warm welcome. Remind the group of the vision for gospel-centred theology each time you meet and make it clear that anyone is welcome when you do this.
Give time for people to catch up and talk about how their weeks are going even if your meetings aren’t that long. It gives people the space to bring up the questions and challenges that they are working through and is a great way of supporting each other.
If you want to open with an ice-breaker question aim for one that leads to relevant conversation, e.g. ‘What was the most interesting thing you heard in a lecture this week?’
Asking good questions to stimulate discussion.
Include lots of time in your session for discussion and plan a few key open questions to keep your discussion focussed and to bring it back on track if it veers off onto a wide tangent.
If you have an external speaker you may want to give more time to the talk. However, be sure to still include enough time for questions and discussion.
(More on leading a discussion here).
Praying for one another.
Plan time to pray for each other. This is another great way to support one another and to bring coursemates to the Lord in prayer. If you’re doing this at the end, make sure to finish the discussion in time. However, you might consider praying for each other at the start before your main content so that it doesn’t get squeezed out.
Managing your time well.
Plan some margin into your sessions (about 10-15 minutes) to allow for people arriving late or needing to leave early to get to and from classes. This also allows you to be flexible with your timings if there is productive discussion going on without feeling rushed as a leader.